Bi-stable displays such as electronic paper are an attractive choice for a user interface because they are more flexible, thinner and more robust than other similar displays such as LCD displays. Bi-stable displays consume relatively little power because they only require power to update the contents of the display. The display retains text and images indefinitely without power until a display driver updates the display by applying an electric field across segment electrodes of particular segments. Further, bi-stable displays may provide a user interface with a wider viewing angle and higher contrast than other conventional displays.
However, because bi-stable displays have the ability to display information without any power consumption, bi-stable displays may also display unwanted information to the user in the event of an internal device failure. It may be important in many applications that correct and updated information be displayed on the bi-stable display. For example, if a display driver within a device incorporating a bi-stable display were to malfunction and not provide appropriate voltages to the segments of the bi-stable display, the display would continue to display information previously written to the display. This may cause misleading information to be provided to the user of the device.